Young Women Don’t Spot Heart Symptoms

May 10, 2007 -- Many women in the U.S. die from heart attacks each year, yet younger women often fail to recognize their risk, a new study suggests.

Researchers interviewed 24 female heart attack survivors who were aged 55 and younger while the women were still hospitalized. Nine out of 10 reported experiencing severe chest pain during the event, but only four of 10 perceived the problem as heart related.

Researcher Judith Lichtman, PhD, of Yale School of Medicine, tells WebMD that many of the women thought they had indigestion or heartburn.

Not Just Your Grandmother’s Disease

Heart disease is generally considered an older women’s condition, and to a large extent this is true.

Women aged 55 and younger account for less than 5% of hospitalizations for heart-related causes each year in the U.S., Lichtman says. And of the half-million annual heart-related deaths among women in this country, just 16,000 occur in younger women.

Though the number is comparatively small, Lichtman points out that heart disease is still a leading cause of death among younger women.

“The number of young women who die from coronary heart disease each year is roughly comparable to the number of women who die of breast cancer in this age group,” she states in a news release.

Family History Important

The women enrolled in the small pilot study were interviewed to determine their perceived risk for heart disease prior to the event, the symptoms they experienced during their heart attack, and their response to these symptoms.

The findings were presented this week at an American Heart Association meeting on cardiovascular disease care in Washington.

Among the major findings:

Most of the women (88%) reported having some degree of chest pain. More than half (58%) also experienced pain in the jaw or shoulder; 38% experience sweating, 29% had nausea, and 29% had shortness of breath.

88% of the women had a parent or sibling with heart disease.

71% described their overall health as fair or poor, but fewer than half considered themselves at risk for heart disease.